Downfall - The Incorruptibles #1 (COMPLETE NOVEL)

Chapter 13: Sacrifice

At home I tied a jacket around my waist to hide the blood stains on my thighs. The house was empty and quiet. Relieved, I made an effort to scrub the rust-coloured marks out of my jeans before shoving them into the machine. I hadn't eaten anything since early the night before but still couldn't face the thought of food. I went to lie down. Although exhausted, I couldn't sleep.

I thought over the visions they'd talked about the night before and realised Liz and Nadine had both seen fragments of the full vision Owen saw later. Nadine saw a dark-haired woman at a bar being chatted up. She'd described a sign over a door and a guy with a blue-labelled beer. There was a neon sign at the door to the bar. And I thought the drunk man's beer had a green label, converted to the primary colour blue in her vision. That must have occurred before we arrived. Nadine's other vision was of a large woman holding a little boy's hand as they walked through hospital. His wife going to identify the body? Owen said the man's wife was big. So big she intimidated him. That was why the guy wanted to find another woman to push around. Liz had seen a kid in a schoolyard eating crisps. Maybe it was the son with the learning disorder the guy's wife blamed him for? It was that blame that made him angry and made him want to get in a fight.

The events ran through my mind, over and over, a looping video. I kept coming back to the fact that Cain hadn't seen any visions since he'd met me. Was the vision of this man dying—a vision Owen saw too late—supposed to be Cain's vision? Perhaps if he hadn't been outside, being earthly with me in the courtyard, he would have had time to intervene and save the guy. Now I'd seen firsthand how this man might have been saved or helped through their visions, I comprehended the disastrous effect of my presence in the group. I'd upset Jude so much he wanted to get in a fight and I was distracting Cain from his calling. He had a place among the saints and had work to do. When I was around he couldn't do that work properly.

The knowledge sat in front of me like an unscalable brick wall. I wouldn't be able to explain this to Cain. He would instantly declare it all wrong, all down to religious guilt or the hyperactive sense of responsibility of which Albion always accused me. Cain's whole purpose was to protect people from pain and I had no doubt he'd try that on me. But I wasn't going to let him do that because this pain was mine. I chose it. It was almost a relief to feel it stabbing through my shock and numbness. At least the pain meant I was in control ... an oddly consolatory thought. If I couldn't stop this weird situation from winding itself around me I could still be in charge of how I dealt with it.

The front door opened. Albion. I rolled over and faked sleep but he paused at my doorway and came into the room when he saw me.

"Well," he said, his voice sarcastic. "Nice to see you." I opened one eye and glared at him. What was wrong with him? Couldn't he see I was trying to sleep? "You obviously didn't wish to grace me with your presence this morning."

"I can stay out if I like."

"Of course you can, and far be it from me to interfere with your social life, but a phone call would have been appreciated. Just to stop me waiting around here for you this morning, and so I could maybe find a friend who'd spend some time with me when you clearly wouldn't."

I opened both my eyes and frowned at him, then I remembered. "Oh, the market! Alby, I'm sorry. I completely forgot!" He looked at me doubtfully. "Really!" I insisted.

"Hmph."

"For real, Alby. I ... had too much to drink ..."

"Yeah, right, Frankie," he said. "Give me some credit."

He stomped away to the kitchen. Oh, well. Another stuff up. Hardly in the same league as what happened last night. I didn't even really feel bad. Sleep continued to elude me so I abandoned my bed and lay on the lounge for hours, just thinking. Was it possible the drunk man had not died? It was a wonderful thought but also a terrible one because it gave me hope. Probably fruitless hope. Nonetheless, I stayed home to watch the evening news. I needed to know how far the police investigation had gone. Had they made up those identikit pictures Nadine had talked about? Maybe Jude would have to cut and dye his hair, or something.